In preparation for the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, the U.S. Census Bureau released its collection of the most recent data pertaining to Americans with disabilities. The numbers are striking. People with disabilities represented 19 percent of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population. Persons with a disability have a physical or mental impairment that affects one or more major life activities, such as walking, bathing, dressing, eating, preparing meals, going outside the home, or doing housework. A disability can occur at birth or at any point in a person’s life.

Approximately 57 million Americans have a disability. There are more people with disabilities living in America than the entire population of Canada or the Caribbean.

More Americans with
disabilities require the assistance of others to perform basic
activities of daily living than the entire population of Greece.

If you take the population of Ireland and cut it in half, that’s
roughly the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s or other
neurocognitive disorders.

The number of Americans with vision impairments is comparable to the
entire population of Switzerland, and there are more Americans with
hearing impairments than in all of Denmark, Paraguay or Hong Kong.

By age in the U.S., 8 percent of children under 15 had a disability; 21 percent of people 15 and older had a disability; 17 percent of people 21 to 64 had a disability; and 50 percent of adults 65 and older had a disability.

West Virginia had the highest rate at 19% of the U.S. civilian
noninstitutionalized population with a disability, the highest rate of
any state in the nation. Utah, at 9 percent, had the lowest rate.

On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodations, commercial facilities, telecommunications, and state and local government services.

About 56.7 million people—19 percent of the population—had a disability in 2010, according to a broad definition of disability, with more than half of them reporting the disability was severe, according to a comprehensive report on this population released today by the Commerce Department's U.S. Census Bureau.

The report, Americans with Disabilities: 2010, (PDF) presents estimates of disability status and type and is the first such report with analysis since the Census Bureau published statistics in a similar report about the 2005 population of people with disabilities. According to the report, the total number of people with a disability increased by 2.2 million over the period, but the percentage remained statistically unchanged. Both the number and percentage with a severe disability rose, however. Likewise, the number and percentage needing assistance also both increased.

“This week, we observe the 22nd anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, a milestone law that guarantees equal opportunity for people with disabilities,” said Census Bureau demographer Matthew Brault. “On this important anniversary, this report presents a barometer of the well-being of this population in areas such as employment, income and poverty status.”

The statistics come from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, which contains supplemental questions on whether respondents had difficulty performing a specific set of functional and participatory activities. For many activities, if a respondent reported difficulty, a follow-up question was asked to determine the severity of the limitation, hence, the distinction between a “severe” and “nonsevere” disability. The data were collected from May through August 2010. Disability statistics from this survey are used by agencies—such as the Social Security Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Administration on Aging—to assist with program planning and management. Read the full Census Bureau release.

Update:

Friday, July 27, at approximately 9:15 a.m. EDT Matthew Brault, a statistician in the Health and Disability Statistics Branch at the U.S. Census Bureau discusses statistics about the people with disabilities in the United States. Each Friday, C-SPAN’s “America By the Numbers” segment features information from the federal statistical system. The program highlights the trends and allows the public to call in or email their views. More information on previous C-SPAN programs is available at http://www.census.gov/newsroom/cspan/.

In
observance of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities
Act, the U.S. Department of Commerce hosted an event today at the
Herbert C. Hoover Building in partnership with the White House and the
Federal Communications Commission. At the event, the
Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and
Information Administration announced a $15 million American Recovery
and Reinvestment grant to Communication Service for the Deaf, Inc. for
a project that will expand broadband adoption among people who are deaf
and hard of hearing.

The
event also included a technology showcase highlighting technologies
developed to empower the daily lives of Americans with disabilities,
the launch of the FCC’s new Accessibility and Innovation Forum, a video
presentation chronicling personal histories of those with disabilities
who have been impacted by technology and a performance by Gallaudet
University students. Both the showcase and program were free and open
to the public. Read more | Related NTIA release